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A lot of expected absences, but also some surprise holes in the lineup.

E3 is the big opportunity for developers to show off a year’s worth of work, but every year some of the biggest surprises are what wasn’t at the show. E3 2019 was huge for some of the most anticipated games coming in 2019 and 2020, but with Sony abstaining from this year’s conference we were denied the further details we’ve been craving since last year’s reveals. But Sony’s games weren’t the only ones that were MIA – here, we’ve collected every big game we could think of that was missing from this year’s lineup.

Death Stranding

1 Death Stranding

Sony’s noticeable absence from this year’s show means Kojima’s forthcoming game didn’t make an appearance at this year’s briefings or show floor. But we did see it just a week or two before the show, with a shiny new release date of November 8, 2019.

Last of Us Part 2

2 Last of Us 2

Sony’s E3 conference last year showed us a glimpse of Ellie’s next brutal chapter, so why didn’t we get to see more of her this year? Similarly to Death Stranding and Ghost of Tsushima, Sony’s departure from E3 year means Naughty Dog is saving its news for later.

Nioh 2

3 Nioh 2

We got our first look at Nioh 2 at last year’s E3, and it went into closed alpha this past May. So, where was the Souls-like Tema Ninja game? Again, with Sony taking a rain check on E3 this year, PlayStation exclusives just were not set to be seen at this year’s show.

Ghost of Tsushima

4 Ghost of Tsushima

Sony wowed us at last year’s presser with this graphically stunning love letter to the days of the samurai. While many details have yet to be divulged, we do know that it takes place during the first Mongol invasion of Japan from the perspective on the last samurai on Tsushima Island. Why was it missing? Sony chose not to present this year.

Elder Scrolls VI

5 ES6

The Elder Scrolls series from Bethesda Games Studios has always carried with it a cult following, and with more spin-offs out now and in the works, such as “Switch Blades,” fans have been eagerly awaiting more news about the next major game since E3 2018’s teaser trailer. Todd Howard has spoken up about why TESVI isn’t coming any time soon, and it’s because it’s planned to come out after its next game, Starfield. Howard also did say that ESVI and Starfield would not be discussed at this year’s show back in March during PAX East, so its absence was no surprise.

Starfield

6 starfield

At E3 2018, Bethesda unveiled its first completely new game in 25 years. Like its other flagship franchises, Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, Bethesda’s plan for Starfield is to have it stand out on its own as a sci-fi tale for the ages. But where was it at this year’s show? Bethesda shifted gears to show off Doom Eternal and Wolfenstein: Youngblood, along with announcements of Tokyo Ghostwire and Deathloop during its conference this year, so Starfield – a game that’s presumably still very much in early development – didn’t get talking-space at this year’s show. To be fair, Howard also did say that TESVI and Starfield would not be discussed at this year’s show back in March during PAX East.

Dragon Age: The Dread Wolf Rises

7 Dragon Age Dread Wolf Rises

We got out first look at Solas in a brand-new trailer for Dragon Age: The Dread Wolf Rises during the 2018 Game Awards. But with EA setting Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order as its top priority, and other flagship names like Apex Legends, Sims 4, and more, it’s not terribly surprising we didn’t see the next big BioWare game at this year’s EA Play. BioWare’s epic RPGs don’t seem to be a focus for EA right now.

Metroid Prime 4

8 Metroid

Metroid Prime 4 made its debut at E3 2017, but since then we hadn’t seen any new updates or details to back up that logo. In January 2019 Direct, head of development at Nintendo, Shinya Takahashi, said the project had switched developers and was starting from scratch at Retro Studios. And with Nintendo’s latest announcements regarding Animal Crossing: New Horizon’s delay and commenting on wanting to prevent crunch for its employees, it’s hardly surprising it did not make an appearance this year.

Beyond Good and Evil 2

9 Beyond Good and Evil

Ubisoft debuted its long-awaited follow up to 2003’s Beyond Good and Evil at E3 2017 and showed gameplay in 2018, which showed sporting several spunky anthropomorphic cast members and its female protagonist, Jade. This weird sci-fi universe’s notable attitude and audacious energy were definitely missing at this year’s Ubisoft conference.

Skull & Bones

10 Skull and Boness

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life wasn’t for us at E3 2019. This naval-focused game made its debut at Ubisoft’s 2017 conference, where it appeared to have a lot in common with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag’s ship-to-ship combat, but hasn’t made a splash since then. Ubisoft announced a second delay this past May, and it is now expecting a launch sometime after March 2020.

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord

12 Mount and Blade 2

After being announced in 2012, Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord hasn’t made many big appearances. A steam page was created in 2016, and now, in 2019, it still didn’t make an appearance at E3 2019. But just because it wasn’t stateside this year doesn’t mean it won’t show itself at all. Expect to see a demo of this game at Gamescom 2019, and a beta sometime this year.

Atomic Heart

13 Atomic hEart

This BioShock-like action RPG set in the heart of the USSR made its debut last May but didn’t make an appearance at this year’s E3. Why is that? It’s supposed to be out sometime this year, so information (or a delay) has to come sooner or later.

In the Valley of Gods

14 In the valley of gods

From the team that brought Firewatch to life comes its forthcoming game, In the Valley of Gods. This is another narrative adventure, but this time set within the deserts of Egypt. Now officially a part of Valve, Campo Santo followed that company’s tradition and didn’t make an appearance at this year’s E3 at all.

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw

15 Rebel Galaxy OUtlaw

This space combat sim prequel to Rebel Galaxy went stealth mode at E3 this year. After a three-hour long dev stream back in April, we thought we might see a demo on the show floor, but it was nowhere to be seen.

Spelunky 2

16 Speluky 2

Initially debuting at Paris Games Week in 2017, the beloved sequel to the roguelike Spelunky, Spelunkey 2, is ever approaching its anticipated release window in 2019. Being so close to launch, we thought we might see this cave-dwelling game at E3, but as it’s set to launch on PS4 and Steam, Sony’s absence from the show may have made this one go back into its hidey-hole for now.

Back 4 Blood

17 Back for Blood copy

(Left 4 Dead 2 pictured)

While it’s not quite the Left 4 Dead we’ve been craving since Left 4 Dead 2, the same team that brought us the cooperative zombie slayer has been working on a spiritual successor behind the scenes. The last we saw of this one was during an FAQ in March with the dev team.

Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries

18 Mechwarrior 5  Mercenaries copy

Slated for September 2019, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries was mysteriously absent from this year’s E3. The last we saw of this mech-laden world was at MechCon at the tail end of 2018, after a delay announced last June. The initial delay was announced via Twitter so the team could “deliver the best single-player MechWarrior experience to date.” We assume they’re still hard at work tinkering with the BattleTech.

Need for Speed

19 Need for Speed

EA has said that it’s working on new Need for Speed game that is expected to launch in 2019–so why wasn’t it at this year’s E3? In May, Ben Walke took to the EA forums to say more about the new NFS: “Is it being released this year? Yes. Will we be doing anything in June? No.”

NBA 2K20

21 nba 2k20

The next iteration of NBA 2K was not at this year’s E3, which is not entirely out of the norm for the sports sim. NBA 2K hasn’t been at an E3 show since NBA 2K14 in 2013. Rumors say NBA 2K20 may break the series’ yearly cycle, but only time will tell.

WWE 2K20

22 WWE 20

(WWE 2K19 pictured)

Like NBA 2K20, it’s not unusual that we didn’t see any new information about WWE 2K20 at E3 this year. The last time we saw WWE 2K at E3 was in 2017 for WWE 2K18.

NHL 20

23 NHL 17

(NHL 17 pictured)

E3 2019 was not the year of EA Sports. NHL 20, like NBA 2K20 and WWE 2K20, did not show up at this year’s show, and it’s not terribly surprising. Within the last few years, EA has been taking emphasis off of its various sports games at E3. Except for FIFA and Madden, of course.

Bayonetta 3

24 Bayonetta 3

We’ve known Bayonetta 3 has been in the works since the 2017 Game Awards where it was revealed, but despite that, our favorite umbra witch vanished on this year’s E3. PlatinumGames head producer Atsushi Inaba told Video Games Chronicle that production is running smoothly despite its absence. “No, development is actually going quite well. Games aren’t usually done in a year or two… it takes a while. That’s all.”

Diablo: Immortal

25 Diablo Immortal

Blizzard rarely makes an appearance at E3, considering it has its own annual BlizzCon show, but this controversial mobile dungeon crawler is still a notable game that was nowhere to be found at E3 2019.

Gears Tactics

26 Gears Tactics

As if spin-off games couldn’t get any more unexpected, Microsoft showed off a turn-based strategy game set in the Gears of War universe at last year’s E3. It was a little weird that with such a big show from Microsoft we didn’t see any followup this year. Tactics still does not have a release date, but Gears of War producer Rod Fergusson told Kotaku that it’s still in development.

Age of Empires IV

AoE4

Another Microsoft game that was MIA at E3 2019 is Age of Empires IV, which is being developed by Sega-owned studio Relic. We’ve not seen hide nor hair of this RTS revival since it was announced at GamesCom 2017 with an all-concept-art trailer, but Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has hinted we’ll get that first look later this year. GamesCom 2018, perhaps?

Golem

27 Golem PSVR

After its announcement at the PlayStation Experience in 2015, little has been heard about this forthcoming PSVR game from HighWire Studios. It was set to launch in 2018, but was delayed for polishing. That polishing and Sony’s departure from E3 is probably the major reason why we didn’t see updates at this year’s show.

Digimon Survive

28 Digimon Survive

This survival RPG from Witchcraft and Bandai Namco was expected to take a seat at this year’s anime-intensive E3 lineup, but with Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot on the horizon, Digimon: Survive seems to have taken a step back.

Witchfire

29 Witchfire copy

Back in 2017, Witchfire development studio The Astronauts announced it was “alive and kicking,” and working on a new dark, fantasy first-person shooter. It’s its second project after The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Since then, we’ve heard little about this forthcoming PC game.

Darkborn

30 Darkborn

Who doesn’t love a good opportunity to be the misunderstood monster? “Project Wight,” revealed as Darkborn earlier this year, is one of those opportunities, which is why we were so excited to see if it would take up some space at E3 2019.

Rocksteady’s new game

31 Rocksteady copy

 

(Batman: Arkham Knight pictured)

The developers at Rocksteady Studios broke our hearts once again when they told us they wouldn’t reveal their next project at E3 2019. Rocksteady, known for its three Batman: Arkham games, told us earlier this month that the next project would not be at this year’s show, and ruled out a Superman game. Studio head Sefton Hill confirmed the team would be “remaining in London, hard at work on [their] next project.”

Babylon’s Fall

32 Babylon's Fall

Revealed at E3 2018, Babylon’s Fall is the next major project for Nier and Bayonetta developer Platinum Games and Square Enix. Since its announcement, very little has been shared about where it stands, even though it is slated for release this year. Platinum Games wasn’t entirely absent from the show this year, as it unveiled Astral Chain for Nintendo, but for now, we’re not sure when to expect more news about this next project.

What other games were conspicuously absent from at E3 2019? Let us know in the comments below!



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